Google Checkout: This third time is no charm

Chances are if you google the words confusing, incompetent and confounding, the first item to come up will be Google’s very own Google Checkout.

Launched this past summer, the service designed to compete with similar money transfer services such as Ebay’s Paypal, has proven itself not to be the force Google’s other enterprises like the search engine or G-mail were. For the holiday season, Google has cooked up a new promotion to stimulate traffic. People who try the Google Checkout while shopping at a variety of stores such as Buy.com or Toysrus.com, are rewarded with either a $10 or $30 savings. It appears to be working as new people are giving the service a shot: me included. What a disaster.

Now google Google checkout and prepare yourself for the list of complaints. Transactions are slow. Orders are inexplicably cancelled. People are double charged. Furthermore Google offers no live customer service and all questions are fielded through email which they rarely if ever answer.

I placed an order for a DVD box set through Google Checkout early in the afternoon and days later the order was still in the “processing” stage. Emails went unanswered. Even the store that was supplying the DVD was frustrated. Customers are fickle and one glitch is all it takes to lose trust.

Other services such as Amazon.com and the asforementioned Paypal have had their share of growing pains, but Google Checkout seems to be alienating econsumers at an alarming clip.

This holiday season, the term “Let the buyer beware” has never been more important. When you see the Google Checkout logo and that cash incentive, stop and ask yourself is it worth it. If getting your item after Christmas is okay with you then give it a shot, but Google Checkout simply can’t guarantee they’ll have your order processed in time to make Santa’s sleigh.

Bah, Humbug.